Are the Pelicans finally ready to step towards their expectations?
Monday's win over the Utah Jazz, the team sporting the NBA's best record, offered a tantalizing view at what this team's ceiling could be, a barrier that is held high aloft, but that also sits above what has been a pretty subterranean floor.
While the team's defensive motivation continues to prove a tough puzzle for head coach Stan Van Gundy to crack, the offense has been firing on all cylinders as of late, with Zion Williamson having unlocked the "floor general" badge and added "offensive facilitator" to his rapidly-growing professional resume.
Monday night, Williamson looked across the floor at a former NBA Defensive Player of the Year, and saw not an obstacle but a challenge to be conquered.
Williamson went right at Jazz center Rudy Gobert over and over and came away with 26 points on 10 of 17 shooting to go with 10 rebounds and five assists.
It was another glimpse of the havoc Williamson has yet to wreak on the NBA as he continues to develop.
But the most promising evolution on the Pelicans roster as of late belongs to Lonzo Ball. The 23-year-old guard who slumped through the opening weeks of the season has raised his game recently, and is solidly making his case to be a cornerstone piece of the Pels' future and not just trade fodder for future assets.
Ball scored 23 points against the Jazz and shot 3 of 5 from long-range. He also made both of his free-throw attempts, an aspect of his game that has been anything but automatic in the past and has inhibited his confidence in driving the lane and attempting to finish at the rim.
Ball has also seemed to benefit from LESS time spent at point guard.
As Williamson and Brandon Ingram step more into the role of "creators of offense," Ball has more opportunity to find his own game, and perhaps even more energy to devote to his already considerable presence on defense.
The Pelicans are nowhere near a finished product, but they seem to be finding things out about themselves by doing unconventional things on the court, and they're playing more formidable basketball because of it.
As they continue their six-game homestand, they have a real opportunity to inject themselves back into the thick of the playoff race. We'll see if they continue to reap the benefits of thinking outside the box.
